Furmano's Crop Update

February, 2012

Dry Beans

The plans for the 2012 crop are beginning to take shape.  Growers are enjoying the opportunity of having the grain commodities and specialty crops court them for their acres!  Because of the severe cutback in dry bean acres in 2011 (from 25% to 48%) and practically no inventory to carry into new crop,  markets are very defensive.  Imports have taken the edge off some bean types but as a whole the quality of the imported beans is not up to the US standard. As a result the market has remained very strong, reaching record highs in some bean types.  As a result of this pressure, it will be important for the dry bean industry to go to the growers early and aggressively to “buy back” some of these lost acres.  The industry cannot afford to lose the small grower base that it has.  History tells us if a grower stops growing dry beans for more than 1 or 2 years the probability of resigning him is next to 0!  We have supported this effort of going to the grower early to secure a base for our dry bean production in 2012.  Because of the risk and extra labor required to grow beans, it will be necessary to reward our growers with a financial reason for this effort.

Tomatoes

The planning process of tomatoes is well underway.  It hardly seem possible but in 45 days  we will begin the greenhouse seeding for transplants!  California will begin field seeding in the next two weeks!  Regardless of the difficult crop the Mid West and East Coast had in 2011, California came in just under their projected budget.  The pressure from the growers is going to push for higher prices and contracting acres in the Mid West and East Coast should prove challenging.

Snap Beans/Bean Salad

The same pressure as above will be facing our contracting process for 2012 snap beans.  The commodities continue to create a real challenge to keep our bean acres.